A Wise Word:

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Some days, with the inherent business of mothering two little people, I feel like my life has lost all of it's magickal aspects. Although I make a point to light my altar a few times a week, it has been months since I've done any spell work or meditated. There just isn't a moment where I can take my eyes off Miss Busy that long and, when her naptime rolls around, I fall asleep every time I sit down to meditate. Rituals are hit and miss too since, by the time the moon is up, the only place I want to be is in my bed. It's enough to become discouraging at times, but then I remember that "mother" is one of the magickal phases of a women's life.

Mothering is not just a chore like washing the dishes or filing paperwork. The very act of being Mama is magick. If you're feeling skeptical, consider breast milk. Everyday, all day, my body and the body of every breastfeeding mama produces a very special magickal elixir. It is far more than nutrition. It is comfort and love and security. It is healing tonic and soothing salve. It is the start to a life time of good physical and emotional health.

Just like knowingly casting a spell takes huge quantities of energy, the bodies automatic act of creating breast milk and nursing can be physically taxing. When I choose to nourish my children with my own body, I choose not just to fill their stomachs with the healthiest substance known to man, I also choose to give them large blocks of time to soak in my love and affection unhindered. Love is the intent of all I do for my children and intent is at the base of all magickal working.

At this stage in my life, magick looks a little different than it did before. I cannot let the spiritual side of myself go, but I do have to recognize that being a mama and a witch are not two different things. I am both and as of this moment, my intent is focused mainly on two very small people. Although I sometimes want to follow modern society and demand more of myself, in my heart I know that this is the natural order of things. I may be doing the greatest magick of my life right now.

Finding a Witch

As a little girl, I told my parents that I preferred being barefoot because I could feel the Earth breathing through the soles of my feet. Of course, with their typical conservative piousness, I was quickly shushed and informed that the Earth did not breathe. Even though I never mentioned it again, I didn't for a moment believe them.

For many years, I communed silently with the elements and in times of need used childish spell work to pull healing from the Earth and soothing from the Wind. It was my secret superstition and I hid it well beneath my fundamentalist Christian costume.

After being freed from the church for several years, I begin to pursue the secret knowledge I have carried with me all this time. That is how I got here: joyfully practicing the old faith in this little apartment. I'm still in the broom closet most days and I have a lot to learn, but the journey has begun.